Local teenager dies after accident

Skaters gathered at Southeast Clarke Park’s Skate Park of Athens on Monday still were reeling from the shock of losing one of their own. Brussack was an avid skater and the park’s unofficial hype-man, always ready to encourage other skaters and generally make the park more fun.

“Right now, the skate park is really quiet,” said 18-year-old Shane Hicks. “But if he was here, it wouldn’t be. He’d be running around, yelling.”

Police still are investigating the events leading up to Brussack’s death and are not releasing any details about the incident, but friends say he fell down a flight of stairs at an Eastside townhouse complex.

Someone on Highland Park Drive, a street of rentals off Cedar Shoals Drive, called 911 at 9:30 p.m. Friday to report an accident, said Athens-Clarke police Capt. Clarence Holeman. Several people were gathered at the house when police arrived.

Brussack was transported to Athens Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, according Clarke County Coroner Sonny Wilson.

Wilson transported the body to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Lab and currently is waiting for the results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Police are waiting for the results of toxicology tests to find out whether alcohol played a factor in Brussack’s death, Holeman said.

Brussack, who had recently enrolled at Classic City High School from Cedar Shoals High School, grew up at the Skate Park of Athens, said Rick Stanziale, owner of the Skate Shop of Athens, near the park. Brussack started skating at the park shortly after it opened in 2005.

Hicks was at the park this weekend when skaters who knew Brussack held two memorials for him, one Saturday and one Sunday. Each drew more than 100 people, who came to listen and share stories about their friend.

“Ian was filled with the most life of anyone I ever met,” said Corwin Weik, a good friend of Brussack’s at Cedar Shoals. “He was almost always happy, never upset. The only time I saw him upset is when he couldn’t land a trick that he knew he could land.”

Students at Cedar Shoals and from around Athens filled Brussack’s Facebook page over the weekend with fond memories of their friend.

Several people commented that he was the funniest person they had ever met.

The Clarke County School District dispatched counselors, social workers and psychologists Monday to both Cedar Shoals and Classic City high schools, trying to help students and teachers process the loss.

“We’re making sure we have the support in place so that students and faculty have someone to talk to to process what they’re going through right now,” said Anisa Sullivan Jimenez, a spokeswoman for the district.